Acer Swift 7 & Spin 7 Hands On: So Thin, It's Worrying

PC makers’ pursue of thinner and lighter laptops is a trend that probably will never go away. However, as is always the case with going too thin, Acer’s brand new Swift 7 and Spin 7 have a few compromises to achieve such slim profiles. That being said, these two laptops do have a few genuinely impressive features despite being so thin.

When Acer officially announced these two ridiculously thin machines – the Swift 7 measures only 9.98mm thin, while the convertible Spin 7 is a hair thicker by 1mm – I was most curious about one thing: how good are their keyboards? After all, the thinner a laptop is, the worse its keyboard is – in general, anyway. Just look at the new MacBook.

In the case of the Swift 7 and Spin 7, however, it is not an issue at all. Their keyboards are comfortable to type on – albeit with a little less travel than I’m accustomed to – and they have pretty good tactile feedback as well. Despite being thinner than most laptops in the market today, it’s quite amazing how good the keyboard of these two machines are; Acer definitely did not compromise in this respect to achieve such thin profiles.

That being said, there is one area that Acer compromised on: power. Usually, thin and light laptops are equipped with power-efficient Core m processors, and this remains true for these machines. Now, although the Swift 7 and Spin 7 are said to be packed with seventh-generation Core i5 and Core i7 processors respectively, they are of the “Y” series, which are the new naming convention for Kaby Lake-based Core m processors. In short, these processors are not as powerful as standard Core i5 or i7 processor, which belongs in the “U” series.

While the Swift 7 and Spin 7 are not as powerful as other laptops in the market with a Core i5 or i7 U processor, they should still be more than capable at handling day-to-day tasks. Just don’t expect to do some serious gaming or editing on these machines; they’re passively-cooled, after all.

Performance aside, let’s get back to the main selling point of the Swift 7 and Spin 7: their extremely thin chassis. Not only are these laptops thin, the Swift 7 and Spin 7 also only weigh 1.12kg and 1.2kg respectively. These attributes make them the perfect laptops for those who are always on the go and want a machine that is both light and thin. However, they will have to make do with only two USB Type-C ports and a headphone jack; no full-sized USB port here.

I’m impressed with the overall fit and finish of the Swift 7 and Spin 7, but there is one thing that bothers me quite a bit: the build quality of these two machines are…worrying. With the lid open, I can actually flex the bottom portion of these laptops, but it does require some effort to do so. Of course, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to try this on their laptops, but it does raise some concern on the durability of the Swift 7 and Spin 7 in the long run. Other than that, these machines attract fingerprints quite easily as well.

Nonetheless, the Acer Swift 7 and Spin 7 are genuinely interesting laptops: they have bright and vibrant 1080p IPS displays (the Spin 7 has a 14-inch touchscreen, while the Swift 7 has a conventional 13.3-inch non-touch panel), trackpads that are sizeable and accurate, and most of all, their keyboards are comfortable to type on, even though these machines are ridiculously slim.

If you’re looking for a thin and light laptop, and you don’t mind a less powerful – although still quite capable – processor, the Acer Swift 7 and Spin 7 are definitely worth considering. They are definitely premium Windows 10 machines, but I’m still quite concerned on the durability of these laptops in the long run; they’re just so thin.